How to Schedule Your Team Planning Sessions for the Year
The new year sparks a sense of renewal. Everyone starts the new year super motivated. I have found that most people do some form of planning or goal setting either at the end of the outgoing year or the beginning of the new year. The new year sparks feelings of reflection. Sadly, where they start is also where they end.
How can you know if you are on track to reach your annual goals if you are not tracking the progress made throughout the year? You can’t. You must track your progress periodically all throughout the year. As a matter of fact, I challenge you to schedule your planning sessions for the entire year TODAY. I’ll show you exactly how. We are going to break the planning sessions into two categories: sessions for your senior leadership team and sessions for your employees.
For Your Senior Leadership Team
Schedule quarterly planning sessions. It’s important to review the numbers, the progress and the things that are impeding progress on a quarterly basis. You cannot afford big surprises at the end of the year. By reviewing quarterly, you can be much more agile in your adjustments and recovery to ensure that year end goals are still met.
Now, pull up your calendar and schedule your quarterly planning sessions. Set them for the first Friday morning in the first month of the new quarter. Each new quarter begins in: January, April, July and October. If Friday is a busy day for your company, choose your least busy day and schedule a two-hour block.
For Your Employees
Schedule monthly sessions. Don’t focus on planning, ask your employees to define team and personal ‘wins’. This gives every person something positive to strive for. Goals are great but they sometimes sound like just another thing on the to do list. Wins sound like something worth celebrating. It keeps everyone focused on results and success. It also keeps the conversation tailored to positive outcomes. Positive conversation creates team unity and creative energy.
I like to schedule these sessions on the first Monday of the new month. They are quick sessions. They are quick because everyone should be coming into the meeting with an idea of their win. If your employees need a little guidance working out the details or the feasibility of a win, this is a great time for them to schedule a pow-wow with their immediate supervisor. This is a fantastic way to not only to plan and track progress but to open the lines of communication between team members and keep career development on track.
Planning and communication are the keys to keeping your teams engaged, tracking progress and ultimately reaching your growth goals.
Are you ready to implement the planning sessions but need a little assistance? Our team is here to help you define a system and schedule that will work best for your team’s goals. For guidance and/or assistance with tracking methods and leadership facilitation, schedule a strategy session today: https://larekpointconsulting.com/strategic-consulting/
